Personal Statement For A Leadership Program

Based on the Robert F. Kennedy High School case I feel the leadership challenges are very complex having multiple layers. As King pointed out there was no clear leadership. The leadership that was present experienced difficulties with balancing power. The assumed leaders displayed they held more clout and powers over the established leaders. There was open disagreements and lack of communication among the staff which resulted in high tensions. When looking from the human resources frame the staff, administrators and student alike were not getting their needs me. There was problems such as safety concerns that created an atmosphere of fears coupled with administrator staff that was not wanting to provide adequate safety precautions to address

Throughout Middle School and High School, I have won multiple Academic Honors and was able to partake in a Leadership Group/Camp. In Middle School, I was Honored as the best student in Reading, won many A-Honor Rolls, a few A/B-Honor rolls, and multiple Perfect Attendance Awards. In 8th grade, I was chosen along with many other students to help mentor the 6th graders moving up to the middle school and from there on I became part of a group called “Michigan Middle Leadership Initiative (MMLI)”, where only 10 students were selected to join. Currently, I have maintained a GPA of 3.89 or higher and I’m taking an Advanced Placement course for Environmental Science. Overall, I have a good attendance record and have never been tardy for class before. At the most, I’ll miss about 2 days of school in a trimester if I become ill.

So what were some of you general impressions, thoughts or feelings about how it went?

Being a leader is more than simply holding a leadership position or having the ability to lead. Everyone is capable of being a leader, but not everyone exercises his or her leadership abilities. Each person’s idea of leadership is different. My idea of leadership has developed over time, and being a member of the President’s Leadership Class has helped me develop my philosophy of leadership further than what it was two months ago. My personal philosophy of leadership is the ability to effect change through leading by example, taking initiative, and encouraging others.

An effective leader must have a plan for success. This includes a personal plan of growth as well as a professional plan for improvement. This paper will attempt to highlight my personal strengths and weaknesses as leader, identify the areas needed for improvement, and identify the leadership skills and practices that I will use to become an effective leader. This paper will also give an outline of the goals that I consider a priority and a timeline for this development. The overall result will be an inclusive leadership plan of development that I will use to grow myself as well as any organization that I work for in the future.

On a crisp autumn day in 2016, while hidden away from the cares of my daily routine in my family room, I was called upon to elaborate on an important aspect of my life. It took some time for consideration to determine how to best portray a journey I have taken in managing conflict, as I am not a young woman. Decades filled with the blessings of being the mother of disabled children, years lived as a single parent, as well as the process of maturation, tempered by the fires of adversity, have molded me into who I am today. As I reflected, I wondered if would I know how to deal with conflict as I do now without the life experiences I have had? Certainly not! The following paragraphs will describe my primary conflict style and why I use it, how I have changed constructively in this area, how the other four styles of conflict management may serve me, and where I hope to arrive as I continue to make my way along the journey of my life.

First, about my past leadership skills were understanding and gaining knowledge from people. When I was a child, I would always look up to my father and mother as role models to help lead a family together. Both of my parents gave me positive reinforcement in school and out of school so I can be successful in life. I have also taken an interest in

Is a leader as defined in the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, merely one who leads - synonymous with a boss? Or something more? I believe that a leader is much more than that and can be defined in any number of ways. In attempting to define a leader personally, I will use both myself and others as examples.

According to Hans Urs von Balthasar “a vocation is something lived, something enacted and a concrete life story” (Contino, 2004, p. 85). My vocational life story has developed over the past forty years with my first job at twelve babysitting six children to where I stand today teaching home economics at Chowchilla high school. “I build my own life story through the decisions of projects I undertake” and the choices I have made regarding my career path (Contino, 2004, p. 85). Someone looking from the outside at my wandering path might believe of my career changes seem a bit radical. Moving bicoastal, leaving a stable career of twenty five plus years to go back to college, take a pay cut and joining the unstable labor market of Home

This paper will profile Jeff Hawkins, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for PalmOne, Inc. examining qualities that Mr. Hawkins exhibits that make him influential leader. The paper will also examine details of the business strategy that make this man an exceptional innovator and his contribution to eBusiness technology.

During the last six weeks, I have learned a lot about the true meaning of a good leader. The discussions have helped me identify what my strengths are and what are the areas that I need to improve on. Although, I have been in management roles, I would not identify myself yet as a leader. I am a very result driven individual which is strength of mine, but that can also lead me to be desensitized to other’s emotions or challenges they might be facing. Throughout the course, I have also come to realize that I have limited self-awareness. On the contrary, one of my strengths is my social awareness. I have the ability to go into social or networking events and pick up on emotions, or facial expressing to understand the overall mood of that environment. To be socially aware is particularly beneficial because, I can find common ground with anyone I meet to initiate conversation. Therefore, when I see that person again, I can make those personal connections. Another one of my strengths is the ability to look at a current process and streamline it to a leaner, more effective and efficient way. During the last several years I have been hired to be the visionary of new divisions and to implement processes that would support the company’s vision and mission while still driving results. My values are what contribute to the success I have been able to achieve over the years, however. My resilience and work ethic towards my job shows through in the

According to Schwartz (1997), Goizueta joined Coca-Cola at a time when the company was in trouble. Slowed by bureaucracy and with an eroding stock price, the beverage maker was slowly loosing its market share to rivals like Pepsi. An inspirational leader, Goizueta was able to turnaround the beverage maker and before his exit, the company had become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. His managerial style as Rowe and Guerrero (2010) point out was more intellectual than hands-on.

Before taking the leadership class I viewed leaders and managers the same and I was thinking that only a few people at the top of an organization can lead. However I was wrong and today I view leadership as the challenge and responsibility of every individual with potential to make a difference. Today, I view leadership as a social influence. It is initiating and guiding and the result is change. Leadership is more art than science and more skill than knowledge (Manning, p.61).

From leadership theories and observations and my personal experiences, I found that leadership is a life learning process and best practices of leadership skills. Surprisingly, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) points out that informal development opportunities, such as training, are responsible for only 10 percent of the actual learning in leadership development, and ninety percent of learning for leadership development is achieved in formal settings, mainly in everyday job activities such as development assignments and challenging tasks and interpersonal interactions at work, such as networks and mentoring relationships. Cronin and Genovese (2009) insist that what is required in leadership are three things: practice, practice, and practice. Mastery, however, requires more.

My leadership outlook is collectively designed from my life experiences, ascertainments, achievements, and failures. I see leadership as an excursion simultaneously taken by leaders and followers to a mutual destination. Great leaders have clear core values, a course of action, an organized, suitable, and effective team, and unambiguous communication that will lead their team to this common goal. The best leaders have definitive vision and mission statements. They often refine these statements to ensure the requirements needed to successfully accomplish the vision and mission of every area of their lives including their family, their organization, and their unit is feasible.